Israeli medical marijuana patients can now use the drug in public as an oil or a vapor, but still won’t be able to smoke it, per new Health Ministry guidelines, reported Haaretz.

The new guidelines are a significant departure from the old rules, which restricted medical marijuana patients to using the herb in their home, alone.

The Health Ministry changed its procedures after realizing that they were causing headaches for patients who moved or went on vacation and had to contact the ministry in order to keep using the drug.

There are some 30,000 medical marijuana patients in Israel.

With relatively lax regulations on studying the herb, Israel has become a world leader in medical marijuana research. The United States, by comparison, categorizes marijuana as a narcotic, making it difficult for scientists to study it.